This chicken drumsticks in the oven recipe is not only easy but is full of flavor, baked in only 30 minutes, and uses simple ingredients!
The butter, garlic, and parmesan cheese are what make up the crispy skin, and the oven baked method them gives them a juicy center that makes them the best, like the top-favorite chicken legs in the air fryer! Or, if you’re a fan of slow cooking, you can make chicken drumsticks in the slow cooker, and then boiling chicken legs can be a super easy way to cook the chicken.
Why You’ll Love These Baked Chicken Legs
Chicken legs or drumsticks can be a very affordable protein to grab at the grocery store so they make a great family weeknight dinner or even an main course to make when hosting a crowd!
Plus, the crispy outside is achieved without using breadcrumbs. However, if you loved breadcrumbs on chicken, these baked chicken cutlets are definitely something to try!
Jump to:
Ingredients
Just a few simple ingredients that you probably already have on hand, is all you need to make this perfect chicken recipe, easy!
See the full recipe card with ingredients amounts and directions, all in one place!
- chicken legs (drumsticks)
- grated parmesan cheese
- butter
- garlic powder
- salt
- black pepper
Step by Step Directions for Chicken Drumsticks in Oven
- First, preheat your oven temperature to 400° F degree oven (this high temperature will help give the chicken a golden brown color) and cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
(Aluminum foil will work too if that’s what you have on hand.) - While the oven is preheating, melt the butter in a small dish, yet big enough to coat a chicken leg with the “batter” that you’re currently preparing.
- Once the butter has melted, add in the parmesan cheese, garlic powder and salt and pepper. (Image on left, below.)
- Mix together the butter mixture until evenly combined. (Image on the right, below.)
- Take one chicken leg and dip it in to the butter mixture.
- Fully coat the chicken leg with the butter batter.
- Place fully coated chicken legs on to a rimmed baking sheet or sheet pan, in a single layer, making sure they don’t touch one another.
(The size of the baking sheet that you use will depend on how many chicken legs you’re making. You can make a LARGE batch of these at once, which is great for a crowd but just make sure to double or triple the ingredients for the amount of chicken you’ll be cooking.)
- Bake the drumsticks in the oven for a cook time of 30 minutes or until the internal temp (checked with a meat thermometer) reaches 165° and it has that crispy chicken skin.
- Optional: If desired, remove chicken drumsticks from baking sheet with tongs, and transfer to a baking rack on top of another baking sheet, to allow juices to drip before serving.
FAQ’s and Expert Tips:
At 400° F, it takes about 30 minutes for the chicken drumsticks to cook through and become a golden brown color.
You can but we don’t and they turn out beautiful, juicy, and just like you see in the photos!
You can but it’s not necessary! If you’re hanging around in the kitchen while cooking, you can flip them about halfway through but I like the set it and forget it method and they turn out beautiful every time.
They seem cheap because there’s less meat on a chicken leg than there is, say, a chicken breast. So when planning to feed a crowd, make sure to plan on feed a few per person!
What to Serve with Chicken Drumsticks
This easy recipe has become a family favorite for the whole family, on busy weeknights, even for my picky eater! We love serving these chicken drumsticks with easy side dishes like this bacon ranch pasta salad or this side salad recipe!
Plus, sometimes we love keeping things simple and serving canned green beans or just popping some french fries in the air fryer, or even these convection oven baked potatoes!
Low Carb Oven Baked Chicken Legs
What I love so much about this chicken drumsticks recipe, is that if you’re eating low carb, these drumsticks are giving the flavor and crunch of fried chicken but it is much healthier!
You may prefer to use minced garlic and your own shredded/grated parmesan cheese if it will cut down on the carbohydrates even more.
Serve them with this cauliflower potato salad for the ultimate low-carb meal!
Variation: BBQ Chicken Legs
Chicken recipes can be super versatile. So if you prefer baked bbq chicken drumsticks, you can do this instead of the garlic parmesan chicken legs I’ve shared with you, for another simple recipe.
However, instead of coating the chicken legs with bbq sauce before baking, I like to bake them for about 15 minutes first and then coat in bbq sauce, and finish baking for the remaining 15 minutes.
This way, the bbq sauce doesn’t burn and baking the drumsticks in sauce, gives it that sticky texture that is SO good.
Storage
To store leftover chicken legs, store in an airtight container or plastic zip-top bag, in the refrigerator, for up to 3-4 days.
How to Reheat
My favorite way to reheat meats like these chicken drumsticks, is by using my air fryer! It gives them that extra crispy skin that they had when they were first baked!
Pop them in your air fryer for about 5 minutes (could vary for different air fryers) until heated through!
Or, if you don’t have an air fryer, you can easily put these in the microwave for a few moments or even back in the oven at 350°, for a few minutes until they’re heated through.
Related Recipes
Whether you just want to add another chicken recipe to your dinner planner or you love oven-baked recipes, you’re sure to love these too:
Chicken Recipes
We LOVE chicken recipes around here, so we know you’ll also love chicken wings in the air fryer, our easy fried chicken, and these healthier chicken bites!
Oven Baked Recipes
Make sure to see the 80+ easy dinner recipes to add to your meal planner!
Recipe
Juicy Chicken Drumsticks in the Oven
Video
Ingredients
- 6 chicken legs you can use more if desired (double or triple the recipe with the easy to figure buttons above.)
Garlic Butter Batter
- 1 stick salted butter 8 tablespoons
- 1.5 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 dash black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°
- Cover a rimmed baking sheet (large enough to hold 6 — or however many chicken drumsticks you're cooking) with parchment paper. You can also use aluminum foil if that's all you have.
- In a small, shallow dish, melt the stick of butter.
- Once butter is melted, add in the parmesan cheese, garlic powder and salt and pepper.
- Stir until evenly mixed.
- Take one chicken leg at a time and dip in the butter and seasoning mixture, making sure each leg is fully coated in the butter batter.
- Place coated chicken drumsticks on the lined baking sheet, in a single layer, making sure the drumsticks not touching one another.
- Bake in the 400° oven for 30 minutes or until internal temperature is 165° and the skin has a golden brown, crispy texture.
- Optional: If desired, remove chicken drumsticks from baking sheet with tons, and transfer to a baking rack on top of another baking sheet, to allow juices to drip before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
KathyD says
These were really good. I loved how the coating crisped up. The chicken was cooked perfectly with a crispy outside and tender inside. The flavor was really nice, although next time I will probably try to half the amount of parmesan and omit the salt as it was a bit too salty for us (personal taste). Thank you!
Jessica says
So happy that you liked these chicken drumsticks! Totally understand the salt preferences! 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
Chef Potpie (Laurel) says
What an easy and delicious way to bake chicken! I used chicken thighs as that is our preference. I didn’t get much coating on the chicken pieces just by dipping so I smeared it on top of each thigh, which made a wonderful thick crust…just delish! Thanks for sharing your recipe. I will be making this again!
Jessica says
I am SO glad to hear that you liked this drumstick recipe!! Thank you so much for sharing and for leaving a review!
lazyme says
These are not only really simple…..but yummy too. My family really enjoyed these. Thanks for sharing.
Jessica says
Yes! Simple and easy recipes are our favorite around here. 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing and for the review!
Lisalia says
YUMMY! WE often eat out at KFC.. (don’t judge…) but probably won’t need to anymore. I can’t believe how delicious these turned out and were really quite easy to make. And I like that they were baked and not deep fried. Just so good. Thanks for this great recipe!
Jessica says
Haha, no judgment here! I love that you loved these, thank you so much for the review and sweet words!
Beth says
These are juicy and delicious! Thanks for the great recipe. My family loves them. I am going to make them again sometime this coming week.
Jessica says
You’re so welcome! Thank you for letting us know you loved these baked chicken drumsticks! I’m so glad you liked them!
Kristen says
I made these for my family and we all loved them. It was a winner-winner chicken dinner.
Jessica says
Baking chicken legs in the oven is so easy, right?! Thank you for letting us know and for the 5-star review!